ABC Wednesday 4 - G is For...


... Gathering earthworms

I'm feeling a little like I'm following in the footsteps of Darwin again at the moment as I'm using my garden as a laboratory AND studying earthworms. I'm taking part in OPAL's Soil and Earthworm Survey: this is an initiative set up to celebrate biodiversity and people's partnership with nature, something that's right up my street.

They're planning a number of scientific surveys in which schools and the general public in the UK can take part. The first of these is earthworms and my study pack arrived a couple of weeks ago. I have booklet detailing what I have to do, an earthworm identification key (put together by those lovely people at the Field Studies Council), a magnifying glass and some basic soil testing equipment. I'm surveying both my garden and allotment: I'm particularly concerned that my garden's earthworm population might be a little on the low side as I rarely see them when I'm digging.

As well as digging a little pit to test my soil and look for worms, I also need to survey any other microhabitats within 5 metres of my chosen patch. Here you can see some of the many earthworms which occupy my compost heap. Most of them are juveniles (as the survey expects), but those which are large enough to use the key further, come out as compost worms (Eisenia veneta) or brandling worms (Eisenia fetida), both of which are usually found in compost heaps. Now all I have to do is to keep them still, so I can measure them!

The survey is on from now until May and you can still take part. They aren't sending out any more packs like mine, but the link takes you to where you can download the survey pack and earthworm identification guide. All you need to add are a couple of packs of mustard and vinegar, a couple of pH testing strips, plus a plastic ruler and you're fully kitted out to take part! I'll be uploading my results onto the website very soon and seeing how they compare with others in my area and nationwide. Scientists at Imperial College and the Natural History Museum are also very interested in seeing the results.

The OPAL website is well laid out and packed with information - well worth a look. I see they're also concerned about bee populations at the moment: something that should be of concern not just to gardeners, but to us all because of their vital role in food production. I've just clicked through OPAL's link to the Save Our Bees website which is launching a bee survey to coincide with the start of National Science Week on Saturday.

News hot off the press!!! The RHS seed trial this year is mange tout and sugar snap peas - yum. If you'd like to take part, you need to look pretty sharpish and go here. The first 200 to sign up will be given their seeds by Thompson & Morgan. I was too late for the free seeds for last year's radish trial, but I joined in anyway.

Click here for other Glorious ABC Wednesday contributions.

Comments

  1. Deb @ Beholder's Eye3 March 2009 at 21:07

    I know a Small Boy who would love to come help you out with your worm digging!!

    Enjoy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Richard Lawry3 March 2009 at 21:17

    What could be better than playing with worms

    An Arkies Musings

    ReplyDelete
  3. Juliet3 March 2009 at 22:52

    We didn't have many earthworms either, when we moved here, so I bought 100 from Wiggly Wigglers - an easy no-dig way to improve the soil! Now we have thousands of them - I accidentally cut one in half every time I put a trowel in the ground, and there are worm-casts all over the lawn ...

    ReplyDelete
  4. photowannabe3 March 2009 at 23:43

    Its been raining for 3 days straight and the earthworms are all over our sidewalk.
    Interesting post.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Joy3 March 2009 at 23:44

    How do you measure a wriggling worm? What an interesting project, good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Jane Hards Photography3 March 2009 at 23:58

    Fascinating post. I alwasy know when the worms are out by the amount of bakcbirds that appear.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Gail4 March 2009 at 02:10

    You guys have all the fun and you have roundabouts, too! We do have earthworms, but I am not measuring them;-) gail

    ReplyDelete
  8. Pat - Arkansas4 March 2009 at 03:09

    A very interesting post. I am always overjoyed at finding earthworms in my soil, and my grandchildren, in particular, are fascinated by worms. Good "G" post.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Tumblewords:4 March 2009 at 05:25

    I have a ton of them floating in the melting snow and rain - Interesting post and I surely enjoyed reading it...

    ReplyDelete
  10. EG CameraGirl4 March 2009 at 10:52

    My goodness! Worms already? My soil is still frozen!

    MY ABC Wednesday post is at
    More of Me - EG

    ReplyDelete
  11. Carolina4 March 2009 at 11:24

    We must have lots of worms for we have lots of molehills. Interesting survey. The measuring part will take some effort me thinks ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Dave4 March 2009 at 11:28

    I have got to have a go at that! Started digging out some new borders last week and as Juliet commented I ended up with twice as many worms as when I had started, poor chap's I didn't mean it.


    Word verification: mincr
    I am not :o(

    ReplyDelete
  13. TYRA Hallsénius Lindhe4 March 2009 at 12:11

    Interesting as always VP!

    xoxo Tyra

    ReplyDelete
  14. Susan Tomlinson4 March 2009 at 12:26

    Fun, educational, and environmental--what more could you ask from a project? :-D

    I await the results!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Rose4 March 2009 at 12:50

    Very interesting, VP, but I think I'll just wait to see your results. Being a former wormaphobic, I have achieved a kind of peaceful co-existence with the earthworms in my garden. I'm glad to see them, but we leave each other alone:)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Sylvia (England)4 March 2009 at 13:04

    Well done VP, I hope you find more earth worms than you thought. I am finding more worms as I amend the soil in my garden. I am sure I started off with none, I wonder where they come from!

    I have sent my email to the RHS for the pea trial. I hope to grow some sugar snap peas in my new veg plot anyway.

    Best wishes Sylvia

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous4 March 2009 at 14:53

    I can't dig at the moment, because of my gammy shoulder, or I would take part! I know we have worms, but how many and what type I have no idea!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Esther Montgomery4 March 2009 at 18:55

    This looks really interesting. My knowledge about worm varieties is Brandling and 'Other'.

    When I moved into my house there were no worms in the garden. I get very excited when I see them now and tell the rest of the family . . . and about how I am improving the soil . . . and they are about as interested in what I have to say about soil as they are in blogging as when I witter on about blogging. (Hmmm.)

    I tried sugar snaps once - and not one single one came up.

    Never had much luck with peas.

    Esther

    ReplyDelete
  19. Helen/patientgardener4 March 2009 at 19:01

    My worm survey kit arrived lat week much to the amusement of my boys. Do you know if there is a deadline for doing it?

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anna4 March 2009 at 21:23

    Thanks for this snippet of information VP. I will download the survey pack and identification pack. I have noticed more worms at the allotment than in my own garden. Just wondering how to keep a worm still ? I suppose there must be a technique :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous4 March 2009 at 21:49

    Tickle them under their chin and they are putty in your hands.

    Sorry only joking - can't imagine many things more difficult, there is of course putting tights on an octopus ...... do I feel a meme coming on? The 20 most tricky things to try?

    My word verification is killeer which I doon't care for much and I hope it doesn't apply to your worms VP, but is is quite apt for the TV I'm watching, Davis Attenborough, Great Events! xx

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous5 March 2009 at 08:35

    I very much hope that you will also be playing the Bassoon to your worms.
    Perhaps, as we have evolved for a further 200 years since Darwin, you should try something a little more modern. A controlled experiment is called for: how do worms react to such different musical spheres as ABBA's greatest hits or Dubstep.

    ReplyDelete
  23. VP5 March 2009 at 09:19

    Hi _ ABCers, I'll come and visit your posts for today.

    Deb - I was thinking this was just the thing for Small Boy!

    Juliet - I have plans for something similar - spreading my compost this spring for starters, the heap's heaving with the things :)

    Gail - it's quite tricky to measure them!

    Dave - I didn't think you were! At least you've got loads of 'em on your plot :)

    Tyra - thanks.

    Susan - exactly.

    Rose - I wondered whether some people would find today's post a bit off putting, but they are our best garden helpers.

    Sylvia - brilliant, I hope you get in. Apparently the list goes off to Thompson and Morgan as soon as they've got the 200. Hopefully Mrs Be (Carrots and Kids) will be joining in with her school gardening club too.

    Esther - there's 26 earthworm species in the UK, with just 12 making up 95% of what's found. Or this survey may say differently...

    PG - the website say March to May for the survey to take place. In view of the cold weather at the moment it might be worth waiting a little while.

    Anna - great, you're joing in too!

    Maggi - that's sound like a great idea for a meme - I might bring that one out next winter, if you haven't done so by then ;)

    James - I was thinking of playing a selection from your varied taste in music ;)

    ReplyDelete
  24. Dave5 March 2009 at 10:37

    Just got my confirmation back that I have made it into the 200 Pea people, or maybe we should be called Sugar Snappers! :o) Cheers for the tip off and good luck with them.

    ReplyDelete
  25. VP5 March 2009 at 13:07

    Dave - that's great news and I love your alternative name for the group. Sounds like Sylvia and Mrs Be have a good chance of getting in then.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Threadspider6 March 2009 at 07:40

    Lovely worms! I had several conversations with them on the allotment on Monday, so this weekend I will take the worm identification guide with me! Great post VP.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous7 March 2009 at 03:04

    Your post made me remember back when dh used to fish and we would dig worms for him. I love worms, don't know why. I enjoy finding them in the earth when digging, and I always make sure to cover them back up. Thanks for reminding me of something I enjoy.

    ReplyDelete
  28. VP24 March 2009 at 21:42

    TS - Thanks :)

    CurtissAnn - I do like it when posts spark off good memories for other people :)

    ReplyDelete

New comments are not allowed.

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it ...
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl...
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape...
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing ...
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the...
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee...
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi...
Read more

The Resilient Garden

Image
  Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around. Tom Massey's Resilient Garden  at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen. It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's  sponso...
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter, ...
Read more

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Image
  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener...
Read more